January 5, 2016
The Lonely
Season
I
have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. - Ephesians 1:16
Read:
2
Timothy 4:9-18
Amid the pile of post-Christmas
mail I discovered a treasure—a handmade Christmas card painted on repurposed
cardstock. Simple watercolor strokes evoked a scene of wintry hills livened
with evergreens. Centered at the bottom, framed by red-berried holly, was this
hand-printed message:
Peace be with you!
Small acts of
encouragement build up our brothers & sisters in Christ.
The artist was a
prisoner and a friend of mine. As I admired his handiwork, I realized I hadn’t
written to him in 2 years!
Long ago, another
prisoner was neglected as he waited in prison. “Only Luke is with me,” wrote
the apostle Paul to Timothy (2 Tim. 4:11). “No one came to my support, but
everyone deserted me” (v. 16). Yet Paul found encouragement even in prison, and
he wrote, “The Lord stood at my side and gave me strength” (v. 17). But surely
Paul felt the lonely ache of abandonment.
On the back of that
wonderful Christmas card my friend wrote, “May the peace and joy and hope and
love brought about through the birth of Jesus be with you and yours.” He signed
it, “Your brother in Christ.” I put the card on my wall as a reminder to pray
for him. Then I wrote to him.
Throughout this coming
year let’s reach out to the loneliest of our brothers and sisters.
What lonely people can I think of right now? Newcomers to
town? Prisoners? People in the hospital or in senior living centers? What can I
do, no matter how small, to reach out to them?
Reach out in friendship and encourage the lonely.
INSIGHT:
The book of 2 Timothy is believed to be
Paul’s final letter, written from Rome as he was awaiting execution. The clear
sense of his impending death is seen in 2 Timothy 4:6: “For I am already being
poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near.” His
tone is very different in his prison letters (Ephesians, Philippians,
Colossians, Philemon), where he is under house arrest awaiting trial (see Acts
28:30–31). This difference of tone contributes to the view of many scholars
that Paul experienced two imprisonments—the first leading to trial and the
second (seen here) leading to execution.
Source: Our Daily Bread 2016
